BACTERIA IN MILK 1046 



specific cause, the disease itself, a grave and often fatal affliction, 

 may be clinically traced, in a number of cases, to the absorption 

 of poisons from the intestinal canal, and it is more than likely that 

 these poisons are the products of bacterial activity. Reason dictates, 

 furthermore, that the bacteria primarily responsible for the produc- 

 tion of these toxic substances do not belong to the varieties which 

 attack carbohydrates only, but must belong to that class of aerobic 

 and anaerobic germs which possess the power of breaking up proteins 

 in other words, the bacteria of putrefaction. 



On the basis of the mutual antagonism existing in culture be- 

 tween many acid-producing bacteria and those of putrefaction a 

 phenomenon recognized by some of the earliest workers in this 

 field, many investigators have suggested the possibility of combating 

 intestinal putrefaction by adding acid-forming bacteria together 

 with carbohydrates to the diet of patients suffering from this condi- 

 tion. The first to suggest this therapy was Escherich 57 who proposed 

 the use, in this way, of Bacillus lactis aerogenes; with the same 

 end in view, Quincke, 58 a little later, suggested the use of yeasts 

 Oi'dium lactis. The reasoning underlying these attempts was mean- 

 while upheld by experiments carried out both in vitro and upon the 

 living patient. Thus Brudzinski 5 ^ was able to demonstrate that 

 Bacillus lactis aerogenes, in culture, inhibited the development of 

 certain races of the proteus species and succeeded in obtaining 

 markedly favorable results by feeding pure cultures of Bacillus 

 lactis aerogenes to infants suffering from fetid diarrhea. Similar 

 experiments 60 carried out with the Welch bacillus (aerogenes cap- 

 sulatus) and Bacillus coli, however, had no such corroboratory 

 results, since this anaerobe possesses a considerable resistance against 

 an acid reaction. In considering the difficulties of the problems in- 

 volved in this question, it occurred to Metchnikoff 61 that much of 

 the practical failure of therapy, based upon the principles stated 

 above, might be referred to insufficent powers of acid production 

 on the part of Bacillus coli, Bacillus lactis aerogenes, and other germs 



57 Escherich, Therapeut. Monatshefte, Oct., 1887. 



**Quincke, Verhandl. des Congress f. Inn. Med., Wiesbaden, 1898. 



69 Brudzinski, Jahrbuch f. Kinderheilkunde, 52, 1900 (Erganzungsheft). 



80 Tissier and Martelly, Ann. de 1 'inst. Pasteur, 1906. 



n Metchnikoff, "Prolongation of Life/' G. P. Putnam's Sons, N. Y.; also .in 

 ' ' Bacteriotherapie, " etc. "Bibliotheque de therapeutique, " Gilbert and Carnot, 

 Paris, 1909. 



